Sheet metal for perforated pockets of storage batteries.



PATENTED AUG. 22, 1905.

T. A. EDISON.

SHEET METAL FOR PERFORATED POGKETS OF STORAGE BATTERIES.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 21, 1904.

511 0c 11 l'oz, 7 flffc zuca (726M145 TIIUMAS lit. EDISON, UI ORANGE; NEW JERSEY.

hil lfiiit' lllllfi'l'l tt. WWW sent-"uneven WUUIIIITI$ or S I'UIWIGWE BATTERIES no. 707,8ah.

dpeeification oi Letters "Patent.

Patented Aug. 22, race.

Application filed July 21, 1904. Ilerial lilo. 217,537.

tilieet Metal for Perforated Pockets of Storage Batteries, of which the following is a description.

In the manufacture of my improved ironnickel storage battery I carry the active material in small pockets made of perforated nickel-plated sheet-steel, the bulk of active material in each pocket being so selected that any change in the mass thereof in use will fall within the elastic limits of the sheet metal, whereby the walls of the pocket will always maintain an elastic contact with the active material. I find in practice that in order that the sheet metal may be stiff enough to exertasuificient elastic pressure on the active mass it should not be less than .0035 of an inch in thickness; but in. commercially experimenting with sheet metal of this thickness I discovered that it cannot be practically perforated with the desiredifineness, since the dies become quickly worn out.

My invention consists in making the pockets for use in my improved stora 'e battery or in any other stora e battery of metal thin enough to be readilT' perforatedsay .0025 of an inch in thickness and in then applying thereto a very thick plating of n1ckel to a suflieient extentas to result in the production of a sheet of the proper thickness to give the desired elastic pressure, the thickness of the deposited metal varying, as, for example, between .0005 and .00125 of an inch.

In order that the invention may he better understood, attention is directed to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, and in which Figure 1 is a sectional View, on a greatly enlarged scale, showing a plate .0035 of an inch in thickness with a )rotecting-film of nickel thereon, as I have heretofore used in the make-u p of my battery. Fig. 2 is a similar view illustrating the present invention.

In these views corresponding parts are represented by the same numerals of referonce.

1. represents the plate, and 2 the nickel coating in each case. In forming each perforation the burs 3 will be struck u by means of perforating-dies. With the o d practice the late 1 has been about .0035 of an inch in thic mess, since substantially this thickness is necessary in order to provide the desired elastic pressure on the active materials. In this case the nickel coating 2 has been a mere protecting-film. V/ith this practice the thickness of metal used is too great to allow it tobe-commercially perforated, since the dies become quickly Worn out. In Fig. 2, illustrating my present invention, the plate 1 is materially thinner than the plates now used in order that it may be commercially perforated. A plate .0025 of an inch in thickness is shown. In order to give the desired thickness to provide for the necessary elastic pressure, the nickel coating 2 is made very thick, ranging, say, from .0005 up to .00125 of an inch. Such a nickel coating is very much greater than that necessary merely to protect the plate 1 from the electrolytic action and serves additionally to give the necessary elastic pressure. Byvary- "mg the thickness of the nickel deposit the thickness of the plates can be obviously regulated to accommodate various active materials and variations in bulk. I11 practice I have constructed sheets in this Way as thick as .0050, wherein the original sheet has been only .0025, or, in other Words, the thickness of nickel used is as reat as the sheet upon which it is deposite Preferably after the nickel-plated coating has been applied I subj ect the composite sheet to a welding process, as I describe in my Patent N 0. 734,522, July 28, 1903, as I find that in this way the nickel coating is much more adherent, while at the same time the elasticity of the sheet is greater than if the welding operation were omitted.

Having now described my invention, what I claim as new therein, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is as follows: Metal sheets for use in the make-up of storage batteries, com rising a thin perforated sheet of iron or stee and a nickel coating applied thereto, of materially greater thickness than that necessary for the protection of the sheet from electrolysis, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

This specification signed and witnessed this 12th day of July, 1004..

THUS. A. EDISON.

Witnesses FRANK L. Dyan, ANNA It. KLnI-rM. 

